DBCONCAT(nged)

💅 DBCONCAT 💅 (a.k.a. the nged girlies' favorite copy-paste moment)

okay so bestie, real talk: this is a BRL-CAD User Command and it lives inside nged. It's the "bring your whole other database over here" command. Slay.

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✨ NAME ✨

dbconcat — concatenates an existing BRL-CAD database to the database you're currently editing. that's it. that's the whole vibe. 💖

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🦋 SYNOPSIS 🦋

dbconcat [-h] [-t] [-u] [-c] [-s|-p] [-L] [-O] {database_file} [affix]
dbconcat [--help] [--lazy-affix] [--overwrite] [--prefix] [--suffix] {database_file} [affix]

two forms, same energy. short flags or long flags, pick your fighter. ✨

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🌸 DESCRIPTION 🌸

So you want to merge an existing BRL-CAD database into the one you're currently editing? iconic. dbconcat does exactly that.

But here's the thing, and this is highkey important — every BRL-CAD object needs a unique name. so this command has, like, rules. naming rules. defined ones. it'll automatically rename conflicting objects as they get merged in. no cap. 👑

If conflicting names show up, by default the command adds computer-generated prefixes or suffixes to the object names coming from the incoming database_file. cute, right?

Now. if you'd rather just overwrite the current objects, you can pass the -O option and the whole behavior changes: every incoming object overwrites an original object when there's a conflict. But bestie. listen to me.

⚠️ using -O is destructive — old geometry is not preserved when it gets overwritten. only use this when your whole intent is to NOT preserve the original data. do not come crying to me later. 💀

Alternatively, if you supply an affix string, then objects from the incoming database_file get that affix added to their names as a prefix (that's the default, or if you specify -p), or as a suffix (if you specify -s). and by default this string gets added to ALL incoming object names — but if -L is specified in either mode, the affix string is only used when resolving name conflicts. lazy but make it fashion. 🎀

The other options are all about whether or not to preserve incoming metadata, like title, units, and the region color table. yes queen, your metadata matters. 💜

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🎀 OPTIONS 🎀

• -h, —help — prints help and dips. that's it. goodbye. 👋
• -L, —lazy-affix — apply the affix (prefix or suffix) only when trying to resolve name conflicts. lowkey efficient.
• -O, —overwrite — overwrite objects in the current .g file when incoming object names conflict. (WARNING: this option is destructive — old data is replaced by new.) 🙈
• -c — means the region color table of the database you're currently editing gets replaced with the one from database_file. give it a glow-up. 🌈
• -p, —prefix — use the supplied affix string as a prefix when reading in object names. (this is the default, bestie.) ⭐
• -s, —suffix — use the supplied affix string as a suffix when reading in object names. 🍓
• -t — means the title of the database you're currently editing gets replaced with the one from database_file. 💖
• -u — means the units of the incoming database_file become the units of the database you're currently editing. consistency is key. ✨

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🔥 EXAMPLES 🔥

okay this first one is the classic: copy all objects from a particular database into the current database. and bonus, it shows how to add a particular prefix to every object copied.

Example 1. Copy objects in a specified database to the current one and lazily apply a prefix to the copied objects. 🧚

mged>dbconcat -L model_two.g two_

Copies all the objects in model_two.g to the current database, using the specified prefix two_ to attempt to resolve name conflicts. and if there's still a conflict even with the prefix applied? standard rules keep on applying for additional name generation. the grind never stops. 💅

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Another example — this one imports the title, units, color table, and all the objects of a database file into the current database. it's especially useful if the current database is empty or was just created by mged. fresh start energy. 🌱

Example 2. Copy an entire database, including title, units, and color table, to the current database without any affix 🦋

mged>dbconcat -t -u -c model_two.g

Copies all the objects in model_two.g to the current database, including the title, units, and color table. No suffix or prefix is added to the object names. clean. minimal. iconic. 🤍

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Example 3. Copy a database, overwriting objects in the current databse 💀

mged>dbconcat -O model_two.g

Copies all the objects in model_two.g to the current database. No object names are changed while conflicts in the current database are overwritten with objects from model_two.g. (yes, databse. we don't gatekeep typos here. 🫶) and again — overwriting means the old stuff is gone. you've been warned. 🔥

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👑 AUTHOR 👑

BRL-CAD Team — the main characters, honestly.

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🐛 BUG REPORTS 🐛

Reports of bugs or problems should be submitted via electronic mail to devs@brlcad.org. pls be nice to them, they're doing great. 💖

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go forth and concatenate, bestie. your databases are gonna look so good together. 💅✨

— brought to you by the BRL-CAD girlies, page DBCONCAT(nged), BRL-CAD build, mwah 🎀